Derek Elley

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Variety
For 400 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 45% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 52% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 3.6 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Derek Elley's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 62
Highest review score: 100 Atonement
Lowest review score: 10 Thomas and the Magic Railroad
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 199 out of 400
  2. Mixed: 178 out of 400
  3. Negative: 23 out of 400
400 movie reviews
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    • 51 Metascore
    • 70 Derek Elley
    Best Men
    At heart, Best Men is a modest picture that harks back in many ways to U.S. movies of the late ’60s and early ’70s in its unconventional attitudes and anti-establishment tone. Pacing never lingers, and, unlike in Guncrazy, there’s no narrative fat; at the same time, there isn’t much emotional residue either. In short, it’s simply a quality B movie.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Derek Elley
    Solino
    A slick, entertaining, if never very original, study of family and roots.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 70 Derek Elley
    Ladybird Ladybird
    Though the movie sounds irredeemably depressing on paper, there’s a real warmth to the central relationship that lifts “Ladybird” above similar-sounding exercises in Brit self-loathing.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Derek Elley
    So Close
    Slickly packaged, unashamedly exploitative popcorn movie.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 50 Derek Elley
    Pirate Radio
    Picture generally stays afloat on the strength of its characters but sometimes threatens to sink under its overlong running time and vignettish structure.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 70 Derek Elley
    Unscrewed
    An often genuinely funny mockumentary.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Derek Elley
    Electric Shadows
    A fairly conventional heartwarmer, lifted by likable performances, good-looking production values and (for movie buffs) a story centered on an outdoor cinema in rural China.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 60 Derek Elley
    Il Postino: The Postman
    Pic's potentially inspiring story too often remains grounded by a problematic script and unshapely direction.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Derek Elley
    The Good, the Bad, the Weird
    East meets West meets East again, with palate-tingling results, in The Good the Bad the Weird, a kimchi Western that draws shamelessly on its spaghetti forebears but remains utterly, bracingly Korean.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Derek Elley
    Be with Me
    A curate's egg of a movie that starts intriguingly but becomes increasingly frustrating.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 40 Derek Elley
    Jet Lag
    Stays resolutely grounded thanks to miscasting of Juliette Binoche and Jean Reno as the leads and a script that contrarily breaks every rule of the genre.
    • 34 Metascore
    • 70 Derek Elley
    Spice World
    The movie essentially mirrors the non-diva, down-to-earth personalities on which their act is based, and which include a sizable amount of self-parody.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Derek Elley
    The Mistress of Spices
    Beautiful but lifeless, poetic but unelevated, The Mistress of Spices reps a brave but flawed attempt at that most unforgiving of contemporary genres, magical realism.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 50 Derek Elley
    Dung che sai duk
    The temptation of artists to fiddle with their earlier works brings predictably mixed results in Ashes of Time: Redux.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 40 Derek Elley
    15: The Movie
    15 is Asian Kid Rebels 101. So predictable it could almost be a parody of the genre -- though that would require a sense of humor above and beyond the self-reflexive comedy on display here.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Derek Elley
    In This World
    Makes engrossing viewing for much of the way...but stumbles dramatically in its final leg.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 60 Derek Elley
    Goal! The Dream Begins
    A slickly mounted slice of can-do nonsense.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Derek Elley
    Yossi & Jagger
    It's a very small pic but engagingly played by a fine cast.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 50 Derek Elley
    Returner
    Kaneshiro is all long flowing locks and smoldering disdain, the visual F/X are only so-so, and pacing is almost brisk enough to hide the plot holes.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 70 Derek Elley
    Private
    Political realities are a powerful bonus to, rather than the only reason for, Private, an emotionally gripping drama.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 80 Derek Elley
    House of Flying Daggers
    The tangled tale of love and disguise is awesome in its action sequences but doesn't touch the heart to the same degree.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Derek Elley
    Lila Says
    Easy on the eye but light on originality.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 10 Derek Elley
    No Such Thing
    Deadly dull in stretches, and just plain embarrassing in others.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 80 Derek Elley
    Once Upon a Time in the Midlands
    Marvelously involving family saga.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 70 Derek Elley
    Little Lili
    Works as both an adaptation and a movie in its own right
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Derek Elley
    Born Romantic
    Highly enjoyable when all its gears are clicking, but rarely as good as it should be.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 50 Derek Elley
    The Theory of Flight
    A risky idea only occasionally gets both wheels off the ground in "The Theory of Flight," a sometimes wryly amusing, oftimes dramatically awkward story
    • 64 Metascore
    • 70 Derek Elley
    The Young Victoria
    Well-groomed, upscale, three-hankie entertainment for the “Masterpiece Theater” crowd.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Derek Elley
    The Story of the Weeping Camel
    The film spins a beguiling web of detail that builds to a surprisingly throat-clutching finish.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 50 Derek Elley
    L'autre monde
    First hour is an often gripping look at the realities of modern Islam ("You can do anything you want, as long as it's not in public," says a soldier's wife), before silliness takes over.
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